Rituparna Sengupta in remake of ‘Jism’

Jism, the Amit Saxena film that starred Bipasha Bapu as an eye-popping femme fatale and won her the Filmfare Best Villain Award, is to be remade in Tollywood as Trishna and will star the breathtaking Rituparna Sengupta.

The original movie launched the career of John Abraham when he won the Best Debut Award and also featured Gulshan Grover and Ranvir Shorey. In the Tollywood version, newcomer Angshuman will take over John’s role. “The male lead is being played by model-turned-actor Angshuman. We wanted someone who is raw,” explained director Jalan.

Trishna is being described as a breakout movie — one of those Tollywood productions that hopes to attract a significant northern audience in India and also attract attention overseas. “The artistic value of the film, that’s being made on a budget of Rs 40 lakh, is at par with Hollywood,” says Jalan. “We wanted a good actor who can look sensuous. The role requires a certain degree of maturity and who better than Ritu to handle it?”

Meanwhile, Amit Saxena said, “The impact of Jism in Bollywood is something we discovered in hindsight. The movie explored the genre of film noir. More than categorising Jism as a skin flick, it should be seen as a film that didn’t soft peddle with emotions like lust and greed. It set the trend for making films like Ek Haseena Thi and recently, Race.”

Bengali-born Rituparna won the National Film Award for her role in Dahan and will soon be seen in Bollywood in a clutch of movies including Love Games, Mittal v Mittal and Main Osama. She is also active in raising awareness of the children’s condition thalassaemia, a rare genetic condition that can lead to anaemia.